I promised to detail a mates Civic for him, after somebody hit it in a car park when I borrowed it a couple of months ago. There are scuffs to the front wing and bumper that won't come out with a polish, and although I offered to go through my insurance, he said not to worry. Its only fair that I paid him back by doing this for him.
Products used;
George Wet Vac
Silverline Rotary
Various 3M pad
Various Kent Microfibres
i4D uber blue drying towel
Megs Wash Mit
Various wheel and VP soft brushes
Megs APC
CG Orange degreaser
CG Glossworkz Shampoo
AF obliTARate
CarPro Iron.X
VP Bilberry Wheel Cleaner
DJ SN Clay
50:50 mix Demonshine for Lube (Missus bought me this ages ago from Asda bless!
Scholl S17+
AG SRP
CG Pete's 53 Wax
Carpro Perl
AG Bumper Care
Megs NXT Metal Polish
CG Jetseal 109
Megs Endurance Tyre dressing
Rainex Glass Cleaner and Polish.
I know the list looks very similar to Butler2.8i's list of products, and to be fair I looked at his guide for inspiration on some of the products to buy! Although I did already have a few anyway.
Anyway, crappy phone pics as I still cant find the camera two months after moving house, but this is how it was dropped off to me.
First of all I did the interior. There were a fair few stains on the seat, and the amount of crap that came out was unreal! Turned them from a dull orange type colour, to a nice red they are supposed to be. I didn't get any after shots of the interior though, sorry.
The ton of cheap Jap plastic was dressed with Carpro perl diluted 2:1 which did a good job on the interior. Next the bay was degreased with the CG Orange degreaser, rinsed off with the pressure washer, and dressed with Carpro Perl again, which did a good job on engine bay plastics as well.
Next was a pre-wash with APC with arches scrubbed, and fuel filler area, grilles and other fiddly bits done with a soft brush. It was then rinsed off with the pressure washer, then washed by 2BM.
Wheels done with the bilberry, upon which point I noticed that they had previously been refirbed to a shocking standard! The inner rims had been sprayed without being shot blasted off. As such, tons of tar and crap was sealed under the paint! I did the rest of the lower part of the car with the ObliTARate, but just did the face of the wheels, otherwise I could see the inner rim looking an absolute abomination if it lifted the tar and left flaking paint everywhere!
I then wiped off and rinsed, then treated to whole car to the Iron.X - God does this stuff stink!!!
After rinsing, the car was bought inside for claying as it had started to rain a little.
I didn't think much would come off with the clay, after giving it such a thorough going over.
It was like this on every panel! Its obvious the car has never been detailed before, and as the pics suggest, it was in a pretty bad way. More swirls than you could shake a sh!tty stick at, and tons of RDSs, as well as a few scuffs and dings all over the place. Its not been very well looked after tbf, although my mate has now promised never to take it to a £5 car wash, and promised to buy a mitt and two buckets!
Anyway, I digress! Car was then taken back outside and pressure washed off, then brought back inside and dried using the i4D uber drying towel.
I then went round the whole car with Yellow 3M pads, and the Scholl S17+.
This removed 90% of the swirls, but I was a little disappointed with the cut tbh. I didn't want to go any further, as I don't have a PDG, and being soft 2 pack paint, I wasn't sure how much I could take off. I have 3M fast cut plus but thought it may be a bit harsh, so this had to do. It still ended up a million times better than the start though!
50/50 shot.
Before.
After
I then went round the car removing polishing oils with neat panel wipe on a microfibre cloth. Next up was the SRP by hand to try to cover some more of the slight swirls left, and some of the small scratches. After this, I applied a coat of Petes 53 which smells amazing! I started the dressing with the Perl but was disappointed on exterior plastics tbh, so switched to the AG bumper care which I still think is great! Exhaust was cleaned with the Megs NXT metal polish and 00 grade wire wool, then sealed with CG Jetseal 109, as were the wheels. Tyres dressed with Megs Endurance gel on a cheap Asda sponge cut in half, and used like a dedicated tyre dressing applicator.
Finally I went round the glass with the rainex. I'm not all that big on rain repellent as I've heard so many bad stories of it causing wipers to skip, so thought this would be a suitable compromise.
I applied a further coat of Petes 53 wax the following morning.
Finishing shots. Hope you like.
